While most glacial ice in the world
is located in Antarctica and Greenland, glaciers exist all over
the world, even in Africa. Since certain climatic and geographic
conditions must be present for glaciers to exist, they are most
commonly found above snow line: regions of high winter snow and
cool summer temperatures. This condition allows more snow to
gather on the glacier in the winter then will melt in the summer
and this is why most glaciers are found in either mountainous
areas or in the polar regions. Snow line can occur at different
altitudes however: in Washington State the snow line is at 1600
meters while in Africa it is over 5100 meters and in Antarctica
it is at sealevel. The amount of snow a glacier is able to transform
into ice is extremely important to its survival, Which is why
a very cold place like Siberia has almost no glaciers: there
is not enough snowfall.

Total coverage is over 15,800,000
square kilometers, or almost as big as South
America

Types of Glaciers that exist:

Mountain Glaciers-These are glaciers
that develop in high moutainous regions
and usually flow out of icefields that stretch across several
peaks or
sometimes even an entire mountain range. The largest mountain
glaciers are
found in the Canadian Arctic, Alaska, the Andes mountains in
South America,
the Himalayas in Asia, and Antarctica.

Valley Glaciers-These glaciers commonly
originate from mountain glaciers or
icefields and spill down valleys. valley glaciers are usually
very long and
often flow down beyond the snow line and sometimes reach sea
level.

Piedmont Glaciers-These types of glaciers
occur when steep valley glaciers
spill into flat plains, where they spread out into bulb-like
lobes. One of
the most famous examples of this kind of glacier is the Malaspina
Glacier in
Alaska. This glacier covers over 5,000 square kilometers.

Cirque Glaciers-These glaciers are named
for the bowl-like hollows they
occupy, which are called cirques. They are usually found high
on moutainsand
tend to be wide instead of long.

Hanging Glaciers-These glaciers, sometimes
called ice aprons, cling to steep
moutain sides. Like the cirque glaciers, they also tend to be
wide instead of
long. Hanging glaciers are common in the Alps where they cause
many
avalanches due to the steep inclines they sit on.

Tidewater Glaciers- These are glaciers
that flow far enough to reach out into
the sea. These glaciers push small icebergs into the sea and
while not as bad
as Antartic icebergs are still a problem for shipping lanes.